With the myriad of challenges bedeviling
the country’s power sector even after the privatization of the sector,
electricity consumers have expressed disappointment over the regulation of the
activities of the distribution companies due to unwholesome acts being perpetrated in the sector, ADEOLA
OREDOLA, in this report, examines the grouse of the consumers .
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| Dr. Sam Amadi, Chairman NERC |
Years after the unbundling of
the government stake in the ownership of the power sector, Nigerians are fast
losing confidence in the entire process, due to the unwholesome activities of
the various players in the power sector. They condemn the abysmal
performance of the player after years of anticipating the gains of the
privatization programme. The reason given for this is the lack of policy
framework and sincerity on the part of the present administration in ensuring proper
monitoring of the various value chains that make up the entire system.
Stakeholders in the sector,
have complained that the electricity operators have flouted the order of the
Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission-NERC, over the distribution of
prepaid meters to the electricity consumers. They also noted that despite
opportunity given to DISCOs to improve on their services, issues with crazy
bill, uninstalled meters after purchase, poor customer service as well as
nonchalant attitudes of some officials of the companies have still not being
addressed. They said that despite the N213billion power intervention funds,
provided to the players by the Central Bank of Nigeria- CBN, in meeting their
infrastructural challenges and boosting their capacity in the sector,
the DISCOs have not really live up to the expectation.
According an aggrieved
customer who spoke with Hallmark, Mr. Olaoluwa Adedeji, more than half of the
entire consumers have not been fully metered, while different parts of the
country have been subjected to darkness despite exorbitant charge. He said “As
I speak some areas in the country have not seen power in the past eight months
due to transformer shut down and obsolete cables. Those who have paid for the
Credit Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI), have not been
metered owing to various technical and logistics issues raised by the
distribution companies and their vendors.” exclaimed
According to an energy expert, Olubunmi
Martins, the take-off of the Transitional Electricity Market (MET), which
commenced this month, may not be able to address the salient issues within the
sector. According to him, the policy which is expected to usher in a
disciplined electricity market, will not achieve much, because of the
complication in the transaction between the government and private
organizations that bought over the assets.
Olubunmi also said that it would be very
difficult for Minister of Power and NERC to discipline the power firms, because
the power assets were sold to powerful individuals in the country, who may be
difficult to control or sanction.
One important question that stakeholders
and consumers have continued to ask is the issue with the metering system. They
sighted the failure of the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) which led to the
introduction of the Credit Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI),
as a form of intervention scheme to allow DISCOs accept a refundable advance
payment from willing customers for metering. They also allege that NERC
has continued to play lip service to enforcing discipline on the DISCOs and
Generation companies in the discharge of their duties to the masses.
Hallmark further gathered that despite
the certificate given by the commission to 5 manufacturers, 13
importers, 28 vendors, 4 individual installers and 79 corporate
installers, that make up the Metering Service Providers (MSP), local
manufacturers of meters have alleged complete marginalization by the Discos
with claim that over N9.5billion worth of local meters were ‘wasting’ in
warehouses across the country, because the DISCOs prefer imported meters than
the locally made ones.
Also, the January 1, 2015, kick-off of
the revised Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) 2.1, regime approved by NERC, with
the assurance of holding electricity distribution, transmission and generation
companies to the terms and conditions of their licenses, had also been
characterized with poor implementation. While the MYTO was expected to address
issues with increase in electricity tariff, consumers still pay more than
double for the services not provided, without commensurate improved services.
At the nationwide
consultations organized by NERC, Dr. Amadi, with electricity distribution
companies and stakeholders on Aggregate Technical Commercial and Collection
loss, The chairman issued worded warning to DISCOs who had denied electricity
consumers of meters after they had paid for the equipments, with promise to
punish and sanction any discos found wanting.
Industry watchers have revealed that the
various ultimatum issued by the NERC Chairman on the closing of the metering
gap had fallen on deaf hear. They believed that NERC has given the DISCOs the
latitude to justify their exploitation of the consumers as they are being
treated with kid gloves. They said that the concerted efforts of the present
administration to stabilize distribution of electricity in the country would
continue to be jeopardized going by the different empty threat by the
commission. After all, the different ultimatums have been given by the
commission; no DISCOs have been punished over non compliance to its order.
In the area of
the arbitration of the consumer right, Mr. Adeolu Ogunbanjo, president,
Consumer Rights Advancement Organisation (CRADO) on his part has condemned the
non-supply of electricity meters by the distribution companies despite the huge
deposit of standard meters produced by local manufacturers. According to him
consumers have managed to accommodate DISCOs’ inefficiency to the extent of
tolerating “crazy billings and very high estimated bills being served on
monthly basis.”
He claimed to have taken the matter
to industry regulators and stakeholders — including the Federal Executive
Council, the National Assembly, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC) and the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) — without any
positive outcome. Also in one of the NERC forum, organized in Ibadan, Dr
Babajide Taiwo, chairman Ibadan Arbitration forum, has berated some of the
DISCOs over ineffectiveness and poor service delivery. He said that despite
several attempt by the forum to address issues customers complaints, the
reaction of the distribution companies to petitions of the customers still
falls below standard. According to him, electricity consumers needs to make
their complain known through the various arbitration forums in their area,
while also taking advantage of the various mechanism available to lodge their
complaints.
Recently , the Chairman of Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina, in
his reasons why some of the distribution companies have not been patronizing
the local manufacturers, he said that the operators have issue with installing
meter that cannot evaluate the use of electricity by consumers. According to
him, metering models produced locally have failed to ensure proper metering
system.
He said “You don’t just install meter that cannot speak to the
various infrastructure relevant for monitoring and evaluating how electricity
is taken and how it is being used by the consumers. As it is, we have a lot of
free riders in the system, free riders that will naturally connect to the pole,
use electricity and not pay for them.” Adesina further explained that the
concern of the GENCOs and DISCOs at the moment is to know the quantum of
electricity that comes from the transformers and the number of homes connected
with electricity.
“What we are doing currently is at each point of the transformers
before the homes; we want to measure precisely the quantum of electricity that
comes out of the transformer and the number of homes it is going into. At the
end of the day we would to be able to precisely determine in our own office,
sitting down in our control room that house number A is meant to use X quantum
of electricity, it is using X quantum.“The moment it starts to use something
higher, it means you are no longer a residential user, you are now an
industrial or commercial user and you must be able to pay the appropriate
tariff for the quantum of electricity you are using,” he said.
He also said that the aim is to get the exact voltage that gets to
every customer. “The essence of what we are doing is to have an integrated
approach, whereby we can capture the electricity that comes from the
transmission company and electricity that goes out to each of the customers.
All these will be embedded in the metering programme we are installing,” he
added
However, record of the level of compliance of the distribution
companies to the effectively meter their consumers shows that , the Ibadan
Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has only succeeded in metering 62
percent(711,986 consumers) against 38 percent (431,743 consumers) who are yet
to be metered. Also the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has only
metered 404,990 customers against 332, 545 customers.
The Eko Electricity
Distribution Company, EKEDC, has blamed the delay in the rolling out of prepaid
meters to consumers on the fear of bye-pass of its meter. NERC has also blamed
Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, IKEDC and Enugu Electricity
Distribution Company, EEDC, for poor performance in the distribution of the
CAPMI.
While consumers have continued to bear the burden of the country’s
malfunctioning electricity market, they have charged the present administration
to force the ministry of power and NERC to sanction the DISCOs that may have
flouted the order of government. Nigerians are continued have continued to look
forward to a time when they will get full value for the electricity bill they
pay.
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